Council plans 6.6 per cent rate rise

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Christchurch homeowners face yearly rate rises of around 6.5 per cent under a three-year plan drawn up by city council staff.

The plan has yet to be considered formally by councillors, but if they adopt it the rates people with a median-valued property in Christchurch will pay will jump from $1527 this year to $1629 next year.

That is a 6.6 per cent increase, the equivalent of an extra $2 a week, in the first year, and 6.5 per cent increases in the following two years.

Included in the proposed rate increase is a special earthquake levy, which equates to a 1.93 per cent rate rise.

That is slightly higher than the levy imposed last year because the council has revised its projected operating deficit from $83.4 million over three years to $85.6 million over five years.

Overall the council is budgeting to spend $1.4 billion over the course of the next financial year, much of it on repairing the city's damaged infrastructure.

Prior to the quakes the council's annual budget stood at around $650m.

Christchurch City Council chief executive Tony Marryatt said today it had not been an easy task coming up with a budget that allowed the council to meet its share of the rebuild costs while still meeting community expectations for new projects.

''It's been one of the hardest plans we have ever had to put together,'' Marryatt said